Rob Horgan
AN AWOL estate agent, who vanished with up to a million euros of expats’ deposits, allegedly faked her own death to escape debt incurred in a previous company.
Police are investigating claims that Dutch realtor Annika Elena van der Pluijm, 37, staged her own death in 2014 after her dog breeding company Maricopa Presa ran up a string of debt, the Olive Press can reveal.
It comes as police announced that Van der Pluijm – aka Ana Sanchez – is also wanted for questioning in relation to a hit-and-run which left a British man with ‘life-changing injuries’.
It is believed that a woman matching her description fled the scene after running over a group of cyclists near Cantoria, in Almeria, last October.
The Olive Press revealed last issue how the Dutch woman and her German husband Thomas van der Plujim – also known as Thomas Dollekes – have vanished owing over €750,000 to dozens of clients of their estate agency.
“Police are hot on her heels,” a source told the Olive Press. “She is wanted in connection to a number of offences.
“Her property scam is just the latest in a line of scams.”
Police are now investigating how she shut down breeding business Maricopa Presa, after pretending she had died from a sudden illness.
At the time, members of online breeding forums openly mourned the death of their ‘dear friend Ana’ in January 2014.
In reality, Van der Pluijm – who had used the name Ana Sanchez for breeding purposes – ditched her international breeding business and setup estate agent Inmobiliaria Partaloa instead.
Now after two years she has shut the agency based in Almanzora with numerous victims – largely British and Dutch expats – insisting they had put down deposits on the same homes that may not have even been for sale.
So far ‘at least six’ official denuncias have been filed with police and a Facebook page ‘Catch these scammers’ has been set up to locate her.
When the Olive Press attempted to contact her this week she failed to respond to emails and her phone was switched off.
If you have information about Van der Pluijm contact [email protected]
They may find her and her husband but they will have moved all the money into hidden accounts, probably set up trusts and wil have adopted false identities, so even if they get caught, unlikely they will exit prison with lots of money to look forward to. The whole justice system on this planet never gives sentences that deter fraud. It’s tantamount to a slap on the wrist – esta la vida.